Handwriting Starts with Play

Handwriting begins with play.

Handwriting skills impact on learning outcomes. If a child can write letters and words automatically it frees up the brain to think about the content of the writing.

Strengthening the hand and gaining experiences through play, excursions and having family members read to them come before we worry about a child writing sentences or complex texts.

Without sufficient hand strength and fine motor skills developed a child can easily develop a poor pencil grip and untidy or unreadable handwriting. A poor pencil grip can lead to fatigue and poor handwriting can lead to frustration and poor academic outcomes. So where should we start to ensure our child is on the correct path to quality handwriting?

First Play Activities.

At home it is easy to set up lots of play with playdough, sand, building blocks and toys or activities where they must pick up and manipulate small objects. Toys for these activities can be homemade playdough and items around the house. The playdough-like materials strengthen the muscles of the hand and toys that encourage the thumb and first finger to pick up objects strengthen these digits in preparation for holding a pencil.

Colouring in pages or books and activities like dot to dots practice the hand-eye coordination that will later enable them to write the letters evenly on a line with correct letter-spacing etc. Always have lots of scrap paper available for the young child to scribble or draw on.

Between 0 to 4 years a child’s hand is still growing and developing so we must take care not to expect too much. What I mean by this is that it is best that we should keep writing or pencil use activities short in the early years. Cartlidge and bones in the hand at this age have not fully developed and we need to take this into account. It is between this age, and sometimes even into the sixth year, that a child is still deciding whether they are, left or right-hand dominant.

It is best, at this age, to offer plenty of opportunities to develop the pencil use skills but let them develop at their own pace. Every child is different in growth rate and development. Look out for individual progress rather than compare them to other children.

Do not forget to encourage and celebrate attempts rather than only the ‘wonderful’ pieces of work. We want them to keep practicing and not give up because they cannot do it perfectly straight away.

Have fun!

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If you would like to give feedback, ask questions, etc. then please email me I would love to hear from you. Lynne